Monthly Archives: March 2008

It’s interesting that former Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee has put what has become a very controversial move on Marvel’s behalf into clarity. It’s often the job of the comic book industry to shake readers up. By making grand changes to the status quot, Marvel Comics has kept things interesting, to say the least. I mean, how many fans out there clamor about the boring run on Spider-Man where he swung around and caught villains for 30-60 straight issues? It’s the stories where something new and different happened that we all remember, like ‘Kraven’s Last Hunt.’

So if you want security, get your woobie out of storage. If you want comfort and consistency, eat some pudding. If you want it all new and all different, read a Marvel Comic.

That said, I’m not sure we can put ‘makes a deal with the devil to save ailing aunt’ in the list of things ‘normal people do’ that Stan provided. Yet I wager he does live in the Marvel Universe in his head, so who knows?

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Comicbookresources.com has a great interview with New Mutants co-creator Bob McLeod. At a time when interest (and sales) were flagging for the once great Uncanny X-Men, Marvel Comics decided to introduce the first spin-off to the series. With the departure of John Byrne, many of the series’ readers had lost interest in X-Men. A new series starring a group of X-Men-in-training was hoped to re-invigorate the franchise and bring new readers in while drawing old readers back into the fold.

New Mutants is fondly remembered by many fans of Marvel comic books from 1980’s. The series remains one of the most under-rated classics of the super hero genre and one that deserves more respect than it gets. At a time when the X-Men were dropping in popularity, The New Mutants brought that appeal back to the fold. Featuring some of the most well developed characters such as Dani Moonstar, Rahne Sinclare and Sam Guthrie, the series also garnered writer Chris Claremont‘s best writing in ages. It seemed that the collaboration with McLeod really fired up the interest in much the same way that working with John Byrne did.

“The first I had heard of it [The New Mutants],” McLeod told Pop!, “was when they asked me to come on board, but Chris had already been developing the series, I guess with Louise, the editor, and he had some names for the characters, and some abilities. It was still kind of in the works, but he had a lot of that stuff nailed down already, and what they mainly wanted me to do was visualize the characters and make other various decisions. Like, we weren’t sure how many people to have in the group, or what the mix would be, and I suggested I’d like to have more females than males, just because every other group had more males than females. And Sunspot was originally going to be this real big, Hulky guy, and we ended up making him smaller. Same thing, like, Cannonball, it was my idea to make him kind of lanky and gawky-looking.”

Within McLeod’s work, the readers were going to witness a 110% effort from the meticulous artist who wanted to impress readers with his rich characterizations and attention to detail on his debut – and, I feel, he’s one of the few in the industry that could accurately render children and teenagers without a drop of sweat. Add in Claremont’s trademark for rich written dramas and captivating characterizations, and “The New Mutants” was going to bea uniquely different comic from the other Marvel team books. McLeod shared this little insight into his approach. “I first got into comics from reading ‘Mad’ magazine. My favorite artist in there was Mort Drucker, and Drucker would caricaturize the whole body rather than just the face. So, when I got into comics, I liked drawing individual body types. A lot of comic artists draw a generic body type, and just change the hair and the facial features in some way, but all of their characters have a general body type to them, and that just wasn’t me at all. I always liked making every character very individual, so I had Dani kind of flat-chested and thin and I had Rahne real short and full-figured, that kind of thing.”

Introduced in the last X-Men film, many feel that the young mutants will take over the franchise and that X-Men 4 will largely be a New Mutants affair (something I highly hope to be true). It’s surprising to me that these characters are not used more frequently in the X-Men cartoon. While they are featured in the X-Men Evolution series, it seems to me that Marvel could have done so much more with them. Maybe the forthcoming ‘sequel’ series Wolverine and the X-Men will build on this idea?

This week Marvel is attempting to catch lightning in a bottle once again with the new title ‘Young X-Men.’ Will it be as good as New Mutants was back in the day? Who can tell, but I know I’ll be in line at my local shop with a copy to find out.

These days, as the writer and executive producer of the regenerated Doctor Who, which returns for a fourth series on Saturday, Davies is famous enough to discard it. Unlike most television writers, he is regularly recognised in the street. ‘It happens all the time, especially in Cardiff [where Doctor Who and its sister show Torchwood are filmed],’ he says. ‘Kids walk up and start talking to you. I think it’s nice that children realise that somebody like a writer even exists on a TV drama, because I don’t think I did at that age. Also, whereas adults might complain about a character they didn’t like or tell you who they want to see as the next companion, children ask you what’s your favourite monster and why – which is much more fun.’

Guests include Sarah Lancashire, Alex Kingston and Felicity Kendal, who Davies says stars in an ‘Agatha Christie-style murder mystery. She plays Lady Edison, the lady of the house with secrets to keep…’ Davies sounds most excited, however, about episode two, which is set in Pompeii. Any of the 13million viewers who saw last year’s Christmas episode, in which a space ship named The Titanic almost crashed into Buckingham Palace, will expect the spectacular.

‘The Pompeii episode is so ambitious,’ Davies says, ‘that we had a script that was easier to film standing by, in case someone turned round and said, “This is impossible.” The whole thing was terrifying, and a nightmare to film, but that’s what makes it good in the end. It’s a glorious episode.’

Davies, who seems almost alarmingly enthusiastic about Doctor Who, sounds as if he could go on making it forever. He has already written this year’s Christmas special (‘It’s set in the Victorian era. So expect plum pudding, death and disaster’). But after a hiatus in 2009, when there will only be two one-off specials, Davies will step aside for a new executive producer, Piers Wenger, to oversee series five, which is scheduled to air in 2010. Davies, a perfectionist, doesn’t strike you as someone who will find it easy letting go. But he insists he’ll cope.

‘The day I leave Doctor Who I will just walk away,’ he says. ‘I would never want to hang on as a ghost of what I was. I would be a nightmare! I’d be that voice at the back of the set going, “Oh, I wouldn’t do it that way.”’

‘I’d love to do another nine o’clock drama,’ he says. ‘There’s a whole world of drama and emotion and honesty that has no place in Doctor Who. I once got very, very stuck writing an episode of Doctor Who and on that night I watched Peter Morgan’s Longford. I’m dying to do something that risky, that real. It was just so brilliant and there I was writing about the interior of a space ship. I thought, “What am I doing with my life?” Luckily, though,’ he beams, ‘the space ship was fantastic.’

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Doctor Who could lose up to 1.5million viewers when it returns in a new 6.20pm slot next month, BBC chiefs were warned yesterday.

The writer and executive producer, Russell T Davies told a drama conference that bosses should keep the later 7pm-7.15pm slot and the budget for the sci-fi series, but it had mucked it up.

The BBC is confident the show will do as well in the new slot, but he said. “We’ll see, but I think I’m right.”

Mr Davies vowed to resist any move to film the series in HD because it would be too expensive and it was “rubbish” to think no one would watch unless it was in high definition. Doctor Who will be rested next year to allow stars to work on new projects.

Rumor has it that RTD wanted to put the show on a hiatus to give him time to work on more late night adult programming. Who will save us from more Russell T Davies ‘adult’ programming? His idea of ‘adult’ so far has involved snide innuendoes and humping aliens. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that what most frustrated teenage boys write about?

In any case, the timeslot change is nothing new in the annals of Who and has always resulted in a loss in viewers. During Peter Davison‘s era, the program made a shift in time and lost a large portion of viewers, later McCoy’s series was put up against Coronation Street which was the equivalent of the firing squad. Yet this is a new era of digital entertainment and when you can just set your TiVo or DVR to record Who whenever it’s on… who really cares?

I think this is just the production team’s latest attempt to make noise in a desperate bid for attention. If you don’t think RTD and company are terrified of losing viewers, explain Evolution of the Daleks. That terrible story seemed to exist solely to put Daleks on the screen again… and in a musical theater setting.

I have hopes that season four will be the charm that allows star David Tennant to rise to the occasion and overcome some of the poor scripts that have come his way. After his great performance in the dreadful finale last year featuring a cross between Jesus and Tinkerbell saving the day, I think he can do anything.

Series 4 trailer

Doctor Who returns to the airwaves on April 5th on BBC 1.

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Now that I look at him… he does actually look a lot like a Skrull, doesn’t he? Maybe another writer replaced Bendis after his work on AKA Gokdfish and Sam and Twitch (I know it certainly seems that way to me when I read Mighty Avengers!).

Once a highly respected comic book store employee turned independent comic creator (I truly miss his drawing), Brian Michael Bendis signed a contract with Marvel to develop their ‘Ultimate‘ line of comics in an attempt to drag the company out of impending bankruptcy. The ploy worked with Ultimate Spider-Man, a retelling of the web-spinning wonder told in an entirely new fashion to appeal to new readers, and Bendis went on to destroy and rebuild the Avengers, the cornerstone of the Marvel Universe.

Since that time, his name has evoked both excitement and deridement as his stories either please or anger his readers. It’s a tough gig, make no mistake. The man is writing two of the most high-profile team books in the industry (New Avengers and The Mighty Avengers).

The big B talked to Entertainment Weekly who made him out to be a luminary of the comics world. It cannot be argued that he is a major pull in comics. He made a major splash with Ultimate Spider-Man (largely rewrites of classic Lee and Ditko material) and his work on Daredevil ranks up with the run by Frank Miller. Yet he does have his detractors. At a comic convention last year a fan asked Editor in Chief Quesada why he gave Bendis a free hand in creating terrible stories, which according to reports was met with more than a little hand-wringing. Bendis himself is aware that his approach to the Avengers is hit and miss with readers, leading to the creation of The Mighty Avengers monthly title to appeal to those who want an old-fashioned team book.

The idea of The Mighty Avengers was sound (if a little suspicious… I mean why not just ‘fix’ New Avengers if there’s a problem?), but while the title started off strong and delivered on its promise of an ‘old fashioned team book,’ now the title is mired with unfunny jokes and his collaborator from Ultimate Spider-ManMark Bagley turning in some truly bad art (sorry Mark. I love your art, I’m just telling it like it is). Also, whose brilliant idea was it to have pale green text on lemon yellow background as narrative boxes?

It’s not that his bad comics are that bad, really. It’s that his great comics (Daredevil, AKA Goldfish, Torso, Jinx) are so fantastic. But when you write as many comics as Bendis does (currently he writes two Avengers comics, his long-running creator-owned series Powers, Ultimate Spider-Man and now Secret Invasion), it should come as no surprise if the quality of the material suffers.

But I think his heart is in the right place. And he is the first comic book writer to use the David Mamet-style of dialog in his comics, which is a milestone. Let’s just hope his head is in the right place as well and this year’s mega event cross-over proves to be worth the time, money and effort put into it.

(excerpts below)

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Nick Fury, a decorated spy working for the counterterrorism group S.H.I.E.L.D. has come back from hiding. Why bring him back?
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS: I’m really excited about this. We actually took Fury off the table years ago. He was our James Bond. He was our superspy. Our big plot-starter. Why he bailed was as interesting as him bailing. Where did he go? Why did he leave? Did he know this Skrull thing was happening? Did he figure it out? And if he did, is he doing anything about it? So [I address] where he’s been and what he’s been doing. We have two issues that show exactly how the Skrulls went after him. And what Nick Fury does is he comes back, but he comes back with a pile of brand new Marvel characters that we’ve invented. Because if you can’t trust — what’s that line from the Untouchables? — ”If you can’t trust the apples, you don’t pick them off the ground, you pick them off the tree.” So he has brand-new young characters that he’s been training that he can trust, knowing that he can’t trust his old friends [who could actually be Skrulls in disguise].

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How much input did you have in this event, and what kind of directives did Marvel give you?
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS: I was writing both Avengers books [the New Avengers] and [Mighty Avengers], so I was pretty much there for everything…. I’m also part of that room [in a Marvel retreat that takes place in New York City each year] that decides those things. Me and Jeph Loeb [DC’s Batman: Hush] and Ed Brubaker [Captain America] and Mark Millar [Civil War] are there. We scream and yell at each other — it’s hilarious. You’d literally think that real political agendas that affect the world were being [debated]. In fact, me and Loeb were having at it just at the last retreat.

What were you fighting over?
Skrulls. But that’s what you want. If the idea can survive the room, it can survive the Internet. I’ve got a wife and a mom and people who can be nice to me every day. You need these people to come in and tell you if it sucks.

You’re actually working on some non-comic book projects now, right?
I’m writing a pilot for HBO that’s non-comic book-related that I’m really excited about. It’s crime-y. It’s in the genre. It’s con artists. It goes back to my Goldfish days. You know that movie out now, 21? The MIT kids who figure out how to play blackjack mathematically? This is a college show about Mike Aponte [who’s depicted in the film]. He’s now the No. 1 ranking blackjack guy in the world. I’m also writing a movie for Fox/ New Regency that Zak Penn [who scripted X-Men the Last Stand] is producing. Like a summer thriller thing that matches in tone with Secret Invasion a bit. It’s an original script about the Bermuda Triangle. People haven’t really dealt with this before. It’s got a great history. It’s about the genuine mystery behind it — all the conspiracies. And something bigger happens.

What about your comic-book properties?
Not to be bragging, but I can’t help it — just last week I had lunch with David Fincher, who is my hero. He gave me the update on Torso [which Fincher is directing]. They’ve already done location scouting. It’s heading towards production. They’re negotiating right now with a big movie star. And I don’t know what’s going on with Jinx. I turned in a draft [to Universal a while ago], and they liked it. Small rewrite. Wasn’t bad. It was one of those great experiences. There are directors hovering, and I don’t even know if Charlize Theron [is still attached]. Listen, if she told me to f— myself today, that’s okay. She’s stood around and sold that project for us. It was really cool of her. She cashed in her Oscar golden ticket for us.

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In the age of the internet and viral marketing, all bets are off. It’s not enough to have ads for your crossover taking over the middle of every monthly comic. You have to invent a marketing device to get people talking.Over the past few years there have been ‘leaks’ from insiders in Marvel Comics regarding important company secrets (read- comic book stuff).

Spoilers that involve who dies, what creator said what to whom, etc. This year with Marvel trying to pull a very large rabbit out of its hat with their mega-crossover Secret Invasion, there is Marvel_B0y. A disgruntled intern that blogs about who’s coming back to life in Amazing Spider-Man, and more importantly how the crossover starting next month will shake down.

To all of you haters out there that keep calling me a hater, let me spell this out for you. I do not hate Marvel comics, I do not hate Marvel. I do not want to bring the entire company down. I am not doing this because I am an attention whore. I just don’t like some of the things that they have done and I am trying to use this as a forum to get Marvel to rethink some of these editorial decisions, starting at the top. I actually DO like some books!

X-Factor – great book (thought the Skrull on the team inclusion was going to be forced but PAD made it work)

Avengers: The Initiative – Greatest thing to come out of Civil War, and Mutant Zero is someone NO ONE has guessed. Slott is brilliant. So is Gage.

Agents of Atlas – yeah this came out last year, but they are coming back, thank GOD.

Brand New Day – say what you will about how they got there, the stuff coming up is even better than these past few months. Two words: Kraven. Venom.

I’m almost 100% convinced that it’s a colossal con act because of how effective it is at generating interest. One blog is ‘shut down,’ another hastily set up… a screen shot of a legal ‘cease and desist’ letter sent to an unknown blogger… if it is not a marketing ploy on Marvel‘s behalf, it should be!

Looks like the game is getting serious now! Not only did I get a shout out in the senior editor meeting today but now the lawyers are involved and they can’t even figure out who I am.Seriously?Is this even legal if it’s addressed to “Mr. Conners?”Like I’d use my REAL NAME?!?!

I’m not sure how serious this is. The letter sounds all official but I do have freedom of speech so what can they really do? Stuff is leaked all of the time on CBR and Newsarama and I never see them getting in trouble so what can they really do? Yeah I can get fired but truthfully, this place lost a lot of the luster awhile ago for me and I was going to look for a new job anyway. In fact, the only real thing keeping me here is the fun I’m having now. So I might as well ride the bull till it bucks me (is that a phrase or did I just make it up?)

Oh, and as usual, Bendis continues to write bad fiction. Last night he claimed 10 people knew who I was already at Marvel.Well, no one came to escort me out and my key card works just fine.I’m not an idiot.I play the good soldier at work, smiles and GO TEAM attitude.But here I can say whatever I want and I will, until the day they catch me (which, the way things look here, will be a LOOOOOONG time if ever).It’s easy to cover tracks, anyone with half a brain and an internet connection can do this without anyone really getting to them.It’s so simple it’s almost pathetic!Don’t post at work and they can’t track you.I dumped my old LJ account with more personal, identifiable posts to start this new one. (I DID keep my favorite posts from the past because there are those of you out there who DO like me, and things you should know about me!)I’m not stupid enough to get caught.They never caught “Felicia” and they won’t catch me.

And for all of you that think that all I do is bash Marvel, that’s not true. I read the make ready for Young X-Men #1 today and it was great. People are going to be shocked by the ending (sorry – I don’t spoil books that deserved not to be spoiled).

In any case, it’s entertaining and I’m happy to hear that Young X-Men might actually rock as much as it should.

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Originally a patriotic soldier from a simpler time, GI Joe was re-introduced to a gung-ho attitude-obsessed market on the 1980’s by Hasbro. A brilliant co-production with Marvel Comics and Sunbow,GI Joe attacked little boys at the toy store, comic shop (or drug store more likely) and at home on the TV every afternoon. The seemingly endless war on blue-suited terrorists lead by the raspy-voiced Cobra Commander was met with an equally endless array of action figures.

The toys were a vital part of the comic book (which existed almost solely to sell action figures), but writer Larry Hama invented such rich characters and situations for each of his assigned characters that it each toy was an easy sell. The best example of this is Snake Eyes. The mysterious and always hooded master of combat was such a fan favorite that almost any man who even vaguely recalls the 1980’s will be able to point him out.

A brave deadly yet silent hero, Snake Eyes was wounded in a helicopter accident, rendering the character mute (a rather novel idea for a comic book hero). A master of hand to hand combat and traditional small arm weaponry, Snake Eyes is perhaps the perfect weapon without equal… except for his nemesis Storm Shadow (expect to see the pair face off in the film).

Blame it on the Transformers movie, I do.

The upcoming summer blockbuster feature film of GI Joe is yet another attempt by Hollywood to draw in the crowds based on their desperate need fore reminiscence. I think most of us wish for simpler times and despite how bad things actually were, my generation yearns for the simplicity and optimism of the 1980’s. Therefore we will continue to see films based on cartoons from that decade… at least until the present becomes preferable.

The film has been a rumor for ages and frankly I’m rather shocked to see the first glimpse of Ray Park (Darth Maul of The Phantom Menace) in costume as Snake Eyes. Directed by Stephan Sommers (The Mummy), the film stars Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who) as Destro, Denis Quaid as Hawk, Sienna Miller as the Baroness… and many more.

I don’t know what to make of this movie.

The cast sounds decent an the script features contributions from Larry Hama. Supposedly the cast is signed for two sequels which is common for this kind of thing. The movie will take place ten years in the future which is a comforting thought that we will be using ninjas to fight silver masked terrorists in exotic locations.

I guess I’m jaded but GI Joe has always jarred more than a bit with my sensitive pacifist persona. The thought of the franchise making such a big comeback at a time when the world is entrenched in global warfare doesn’t strike me as much ‘fun.’

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“Legion of Super Heroes” splits its swan song over two weekends
beginning with the premiere of the first half of the two-part series
finale, entitled “Dark Victory, Part 1,” on Saturday, March 29. The
episode airs on Kids’ WB! on The CW at 9:30 a.m. ET/PT. The second
half of the episode will air on Saturday, April 5.The episode synopsis for “Dark Victory, Part 1″:
As Imperiex sets in motion one final assault designed to bring him
control of the galaxy, Brainiac 5 must fight for control of himself as
the ancient programming of Brainiac 1.0 emerges. Part 1 is written by J.M. DeMatteis & Michael Jelenic, and directed by Brandon Vietti.

The slow build-up of Imperiex as a major villain in this cartoon has been a great storyline to watch develop. However, the tale of Brainiac 5 has been absolutely fascinating. It’s a great idea to delve into Brainiac 5‘s previous program of the sinister Brainiac 1.0 personality. Seeing the young robotic genius’ attempts to overcome the crimes of his ancestor as he becomes the best friend of his predecessor’s nemesis, Superman is a brilliant plot-thread that has made the season itself a stand-out.

With a script by DeMatteis, the finale is sure to be a knock out.

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Introduced in 1975, Iron Fist was a creation at the hands of Roy ‘the boy’ Thomas and Gil ‘sugar’ Kane used to cash in on the Kung Fu craze of the 1970’s. An orphan named Daniel Rand trained in the sacred city of K’un L’un in the secret ways of channeling his chi into an iron fist of power.

The character graduated into his own series featuring the writing of Chris Claremont and art by John Byrne (before their monumental follow up collaboration on Uncanny X-Men). The teaming up with Luke Cage the Power Man in Power Man and Iron Fist was what brought the character into the lime light. The unlikely duo proved very successful for a time and continue to bring in the nostalgia-loving readers and creators of today.

Yet it’s the newest incarnation by Ed Brubaker (Criminal, Daredevil, Uncanny X-Men, Captain America) and Matt Fraction (Casanova, Punisher War Journal, The Order) that has really been such a success. Seeing Iron Fist‘s strengths in the origins of his conception, the newest series ‘The Immortal Iron Fist’ utlizes pulp kung fu influences to deliver a series consisting of underground cities, fantastic ancient technologies, world weary heroes and lots of punching people in the face.

The series has developed a much-needed mythology for Iron Fist that delves into the previous 66 champions of K’un L’un and other sacred cities (which also have their own champions). The most fascinating character so far has to be Orson Randall, the grizzled world war one era champion who turned his back on K’un L’un and disappeared in disgrace into the anonymity in the world of men. Randall emerges to train Rand in the use of his powers in new ways and open up a whole world of possibilities… which ofcourse also brings with it an entirely new set of threats. Orson Randall was deemed so popular that he received his own mini-series.
The current storyline concerns a tournament between the Seven Cities of Heaven while telling the untold story of Rand’s mysterious father who first visited the city of K’un L’un long before his son did. The series is well written and with fantastic art by David Aja, it’s a joy to read each month. With the multitude of cross-overs, a straightforward action comic is hard to come by these days. Immortal Iron Fist is like a trip back in time to a simpler age of Marvel Comics.

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With the power to see the future in her dreams, Dream Girl warns the
Legion of attacks by the criminal organization The Dark Circle aimed
to take down the United Planets. However, Lightning Lad wonders if Dream Girl or her visions can be trusted. “In Your Dreams” is written
by Stan Berkowitz (screenwriter of “Justice League: The New Frontier”)
and directed by Brandon Vietti.

The series will conclude with a two-part episode, which is scheduled
to air on Kids’ WB! on consecutive Saturdays — March 29 and April 5.

Having just re-watched New Frontier this weekend, I have high expectations from this episode. The production team has shown in the Justice League Unlimited series that they can build to a powerful climax and I think this will mirror that effort. This cartoon has been growing from strength to strength and I think we are in for a real doozy of a finale!